A week in NY
New York to NY! How’s NY?
I have settled on my commute for the time being. After getting off at the W4 Street subway station, I walk through Washington Square Park every morning. The parks here really have their own identity, hosting the diversity of the city. It takes me around a minute or more to cross the park. Everyday, I see intelligent, gray-bearded chess players waiting for a new challenger. Cyclists and joggers rest in park benches, accompanied by pigeons and squirrels.
That’s interesting! Could you tell me more about the identity of a park?
Hmm..
One evening at Union Square park, I saw a rapper and a drummer. The drummer was using thrown-away buckets and drumsticks to make fantastic percussion. It was hard for me to understand the lyrics, maybe because I’m new to the city or he was rapping really fast. I picked up words like freedom, fight, inequality & rights, repeated over and over in different contexts. People gathered around them in circles and some of them even joined the group as rappers or dancers. When the crowd got heated up, I saw many dog-walking couples pass by, sneaking a peek. Skateboarders were still busy learning their new skills. I slowly realized this is just another normal day at Union Square Park.
As I was busy observing and curiously trying to correlate the events happening around me, I was suddenly pulled back to reality. It started with a drop of water in my left hand and soon it was raining all over. People ran to the closest shade, but to my surprise I saw many umbrellas spring up and the rest walked with pulled up hoods.
Sorry! I just kept going.
But in Washington Square Park, the evening paints a different picture. You will see the skateboarders and joggers there too. Apart from that you will also see piano guys, trumpet players and if you are lucky a whole choir practicing or showcasing their magnificence. There are live opera singers and drummers too with caricaturists and street artists always ready to mesmerize the seeker. On one of the evenings, I saw a new statue in front of the fountain, which was not there in the morning. As I approached the statue, I saw people rolling in dollar notes inside a box placed in front of it. As the donations increased, the statue slowly started moving and got frozen again in a different pose.
So, what do you think? Is it the activities people perform that create the identity of the park?
Actually, I believe it’s the space that defines the activities. And the space was defined by planners and politicians way back. (I suppose)
While Union Square has an engaging front face, Washington Square has an apparent center area that is active while the radial path houses activities of their own. Maybe the designers had different thoughts while designing the two. I have seen the farmers market in Union Square during the weekend but the only sellers inside Washington Square park are the ice cream vendors and artists.
I can relate Union Square to be more spontaneous and lively for some reason; maybe because it houses the Subway Station inside it whereas Washington Square is monumental, because of the arch. However, if you want to sit and relax you will go to Washington Square park, I wonder what associates more with Union Square, maybe it is Expression or Freedom (for some reason).
I still wonder. What are the roles a New Yorker have in defining these spaces?
